On the surface, it is that easy. What caught us by surprise was actually working with a Personal Business Model was not at all like working with an organizational Business Model. The difference is that it's easy and fun to brainstorm with a group on what is "out there" in any organization. That process is very different when it's now about what "inside here" or your personally chosen career path. The 9 model elements of career reinvention are almost the same as in business reinvention; but working with them is far more challenging. Helping you through that challenge is what Business Model YOU is all about.

I have come to believe that anyone seeking to be a great organizational Business Model practitioner needs to first understand and work through the Personal Business Model process. There is a forced change in your point of view that improves your ability to now work with organizations in much more meaningful ways. Let's take Valentine's Day as an example.

Valentine's Day is not about who loves you; but is the day you have a chance to appreciate how wonderful it is to have someone in your life you can love. It may not be a spouse; but a friend, associate, or even pet that shares your life. The important thing is that there seems to be a purpose to love another built inside every one of us and on this day we take the time to find some way to express to them, in some way they will appreciate, how much this means to us.

Those relationships are not missed in Business Model YOU. It looks at the impacts of our career purpose and multiple roles in life. Then we need to deal with the Customer Relationship element of our Business Model. Everyone working with Business Models knows the two basic Customer Relationships that we enter into this block, Acquisition or Retention. What gets stressed in Business Model YOU is that this is not from the organization's perspective, it's from your Customer's. The real question here is how do our Customers want us to relate to them?

Because almost every organization has spent time on CRM, we are oriented to thinking how we want to relate to our customers; but that is backwards. How does our customer want us to relate to them? In spite of what all the Facebook consultants tell me to believe, I have no desire to be in a Retention relationship with, let's say my plumber (and "like" their Facebook page). I want them to be easily Acquired when I need them (and appear a the top of my Google search on demand). On the other hand, I may want my doctor to want me to "like" his Facebook page and to take an interest in what is going on in my life.

Today I am reminded how personal and important these relationships are. Because I have worked on Personal Business Models I also see the relevance to all Business Models in a way that was obscure before.

To all those who have been a part of this rewarding effort, Happy Valentine's Day.

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Bob Fariss writes about the issues facing Executives in career development. He teaches Business Model Thinking and also represents individuals with an entrepreneurial flair seeking to sell, buy, or start-their own business.